Don't Miss Your Chance
by CBloom2
Summary: A continuation of last nights episode, with my own little twist, that includes my favourite doctor brothers. Maybe a few small spoilers if you haven't seen the episode. May be a little romance - from me, can you believe it! Hope you enjoy. Honey is part of the story but she's not in the list of characters.
1. Chapter 1

**So was I the only one yelling at the tv last night, when Honey asked Ethan if he wanted to go for a drink? I can't believe I was! I wanted to thump Lily and then I wanted to shake Ethan - if he's not careful he might miss his chance. As much as I like Ethan and Lily, she is only doing what she is doing because she's 'decided' he's the best one out of a bad bunch, so to speak. I do have a tiny soft spot for Ethan and Honey...just saying.**

 **Anyway, I couldn't quite leave last nights episode alone, so here is a little continuation of the pub scene, with my own twist on it. Maybe some slight spoilers and I'm not trying to quote anyone directly from the episode so my speech will be different.**

 **Usual disclaimer - they belong to the BBC - if they belonged to me it would have probably turned into the Cal/Ethan show by now!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Don't Miss Your Chance.**

Dr Caleb Knight leaned on the bar, nursing his drink, feeling more than a little sorry for himself, if he was honest. An impromptu party in honour of Max and Zoe's engagement had sprung up out of nowhere and now he was drinking, alone, surrounded by balloons and banners. While Cal was obviously very happy for his friend, he couldn't help the pang of sadness and the small stab of jealousy that knawed at him - oh how things could have been different.

His eyes fell on his younger brother, who was at the opposite end of the bar talking to Lily, well actually Lily was talking to him, Ethan didn't seem to be listening. He eyes kept flicking towards the door. All of a sudden, the younger man's face lit up, causing Cal to cast a glance towards the door. Noel had just walked in with a rather stunning Honey on his arm. He also noticed that Honey's eyes found Ethan straight away, to whom she offered just a glimmer of a smile, then dropped her head slightly. Cal's eyes narrowed slightly when he saw the stern look on Lily's face and the way she dragged Ethan's attention back to her.

Honey and Noel got a drink, then broke apart, with Honey going to talk to Big Mac and Lofty, not straying to far from the younger doctor. Cal was suddenly aware of a presence beside him...Noel, "Evening Cal. This is nice..." he began as he looked round at the decorations.

The doctor chuckled, "Small talk? Really?"

Noel smiled, slightly embarrassed, "I'm new to all this protective 'dad' stuff..." he admitted.

"And I'm not even a dad!" Cal exclaimed, causing them both to laugh.

"Yeah, but you care about what happens to him don't you?" Noel enquired as he nodded his head in Ethan's direction. It had been well known that the two young men didn't get on very well at all when they had first arrived at the ED, but since the crash that very nearly took Ethan's life, they had never looked back, "Of course I do," Cal admitted honestly.

Once more they settled into a comfortable silence, just watching the scene unfold before them. At every chance he could, Ethan glanced towards Honey, only to be asked another question by Lily, "Leave him alone," Cal growled under his breath.

Noel looked at him confused by his angry words. Before he could say anything, Cal's attention peaked once more - Honey had made a move. She was talking to Ethan, obvioulsy asking something and judging by his brother's body language, it was something huge. He noticed Lily say something, to which the younger man nodded. Lily finished her drink, grabbed her things and began to leave.

"No, no, no," Cal was muttering under his breath as he watched his little brother hesitate, then pick up his own things and followed Lily out of the pub, but not before casting a mournful glance in his direction. As the pub door closed, Cal took a drink then slammed the glass on the table, "I'm going to kill him," he said angrily.

Noel, meanwhile, looked upset, "Why doesn't he want her?" he asked, looking at the taller man.

Cal sighed, "Oh believe me, he wants her alright, but, and don't tell him I told you, he's always struggled talking to women. It's just one of those things - he can't think straight, he seems to lose the ability to speak properly...that's just Ethan. But one thing I do know is that he has very deep feelings for Honey," he thought for a while, "Plus I think that there might be something or someone else playing a part here..."

Noel looked confused once more, "I'll speak to Honey Noel, see if I can explain."

"Thanks pal, I'd appreciate it. I hate seeing her lovely face so sad. Ethan always seems so...nice," he finished.

"Ethan is a great guy - don't tell him I said that either - he is one of the best. I can assure you that when he does actually commit, it will be for life. He won't mess anyone about. I wish I was more like him," he finished whistfully as Noel patted his arm.

Cal made his way over to the dejected Honey via the bar, "White wine for the lady?" he sidled up to Honey, who was sat at a table staring into her empty glass. She looked up in surprise, "Thanks," she said simply.

"I know he's buys with his studies - it was only one drink," she burst out before she'd realised. Cal just nodded.

"I thought he was going to say yes. It looked like he was going to say yes...then Lily reminded him about studying and...he left. Does he think I want to stop him? Coz I don't! I don't want to stop him from becoming a consultant - I'm really excited for him," Cal smiled at her, her affection for his brother written all over her face.

"I'm sure he doesn't think that - but other people..." he trailed off as certain things began to make sense now. Honey looked confused.

Cal took hold of her hand, "Look Honey, I know my brother very well. He can spout off facts and useless information like no-one else I know. He's great at studying - he's becoming a fantastic doctor, one of the best. He's kind, generous, forgiving - please don't tell him I said all these things - but the one thing that he's not very good at is women and everything associated with them. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't care, because he does, very much. He'll get there in the end, but it could be a frustrating process for the person who is waiting!"

"I really like him Cal," Honey whispered as she looked at their hands.

"I know you do. Your dad knows you do, half the ED knows - we just have to work on the clueless wonder..."

Cal's sentence trailed off as Honey's eyes went wide and she snatched her hand away. Cal's heart sand, as he knew already who Honey had seen without turning round.

"This is an all time low Cal - even for you," the soft, yet angry voice of his brother cracked as he turned and stormed out of the pub.

 **So this was going to be a one shot but I think it will turn into at least three chapters. The next one will be from Ethan's point of view and third will be Cal trying to explain.**

 **I'm not very good at romance etc, I usually like to hurt my favorites physically so seeing as I'm about as good as Ethan at romance, maybe I'll get the characterisation right. Ha ha.**

 **Anyway please let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter. I'm really glad that you enjoyed it. Here's chapter 2 from Ethan's point of view. As mentioned before this is a kind of a continuation of the end of last nights episode but with a twist, so it won't look exactly like the episode.**

 **Don't Miss Your Chance - Chapter 2**

"Surprise!" Everyone yelled as the extrememly shocked 'happy couple' walked through the door. Dr Ethan Hardy's smile soon slipped when he realised that nobody was following Max and Zoe through the door. He sipped on the champagne as he positioned himself in front of Lily so that he could see the door. He caught his brother's eyes a couple of times, but quickly looked away. He didn't need to see his patronising expression all the time. One thing that he couldn't do however, was get a certain Barista out of his mind. Ever since she got back a few days ago, she had been on his mind constantly. Cal was right, why didn't he just ask her out? What was so hard? She kept seeking him out to ask questions or to just chat - she didn't have to, so surely that meant that she wanted to? Why was it so hard? Why couldn't he be more like Cal and be confident around women?

He kept glancing at the door. He was certain that she would come over to the pub, she loved a good party, but as yet, there was no sign of her. He tried to focus more on what Lily was saying, but he found it difficult. Perhaps he should've let Lily tell Honey that he wanted to ask her out, then it would've taken the pressure off him. No, he couldn't have done that - that would have made him look weak. He sighed deeply as he took another sip of the bubbly liquid that he wasn't really enjoying, "Are you listening to me Ethan?" Lily's voice cut into his musings.

"Huh?"

"For goodness sake..." Lily began another riveting monologue.

Suddenly he heard the pub door open. He lifted his gaze to see Noel walk in. He felt his stomach squeeze in anticipation and he was rewarded by the breathtaking sight of Honey walking in with her arm through her fathers. Ethan wished her arm was through his, 'it would've been if you'd asked her out' a voice niggled in his brain. She looked amazing, although he felt her dress was a little to revealing, but her hair and her flawless face...

"Beautiful," he breathed out.

"Excuse me?" Lily looked confused.

"Sorry?" Ethan looked equally confused.

"What is beautiful?" Lily asked.

Suddenly, Ethan realised that he must have said his thought out loud, "Erm how they decorated in here," he quickly thought up.

Lily didn't look impressed to say the least, but he found that he didn't care. Before he knew it, Noel and his daughter were at the bar then Honey went to talk to Big Mac and Lofty, while Noel seemed to disappear.

"Ethan you're not listening to me again!" Lily sounded annoyed.

"Oh I'm sorry Lily," he told her as he quickly averted his eyes away from Honey's direction, "It's been a long day."

This time though, Lily had followed his line of vision, and was not happy - something that Ethan was blissfully unaware of.

"Hello," a small voice interuppted his train of thought.

"Oh, hello," he answered, equally as quiet.

"Erm, I was wondering if you would like to go out for a drink, you know, after this...that is if you want to..." Honey stammered, looking as bashful as he did.

He glanced at her long, thick hair, her glossy lips, her lovely curved shoulders..."Oh erm, I'd love to..." There he'd said it. A smile graced those glossy lips.

"Ethan," a sterner voice broke the moment, "You forgot that we're studying tonight? The exams aren't that far away, remember? It's his dream to become a consultant, so he needs to study," Lily turned towards Honey, who seemed to be deflating before her eyes.

Ethan opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Then he nodded, "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry Honey I need to study. Maybe another time?"

Honey dropped her head slightly and Ethan was so taken up with her reaction that he missed the smirk on Lily's face as she grabbed her things and left the pub. Honey suddenly brought her head and shoulders up and stood ram rod straight, with her smile back on her face, "Yes, another time - I'd like that," she told him as he turned to leave.

As he passed where his brother stood, he glanced at him. He could see the shocked expression on his brother's face - had he missed his chance?

As Ethan and Lily walked away, Ethan couldn't help but remember the look on Honey's face when he had said that he needed to study, it probably mirrored his own expression. He sighed deeply once more.

"Oh come on Ethan, she'll get over it. Besides, I thought you said that you couldn't possibly get into anything with everything that was going on."

"I know, but she asked me. I've been so scared of asking her in case she said no - but she asked me, and I said no. I must be mad."

"Well go back and tell her that you've changed your mind. Your studies don't mean anything to you and you'll go out with her. You could be like your brother - not putting the hours in and hoping for the best!" Lily replied.

"Cal's been working very hard I'll have you know. Besides why can't I have a life and study too - everyone else seems to do that and do alright."

"They do alright, that's the difference. If you want to be a consultant, you've got to show commitment and you can't show that with the little coffee maker tagging along..."

Lily knew she had gone to far the moment when Ethan stopped in his tracks, "Why are you so horrible about her? Just because she doesn't walk around in scrubs with a stethascope around her neck does not make her any less of a person," Ethan was angry, "She helps people in her own way - with a good cup of coffee, a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on when needed."

Lily was to far gone now to actually take anything on board that Ethan was telling her now, "She's no good for you Ethan. You need someone who you can communicate with on your level..."

"I would be able to go home to Honey, tell her about my day, good or bad and I know she would listen and try to help in any way that she could. After the crash..." Ethan felt his eyes begin to sting, "After the crash, when I came back to work, nobody noticed that I was struggling - not even you Lily, but she did. She'd only just started in the ED but she realised that I was struggling to get my confidence back. She helped me, she told me a story about her gran amongst other things and she really helped. I want to be with her Lily..." His face broke into a huge grin, "I want to be with her. I can study and have time with her - I know that she will support my studies and understand why I need the time to do it."

Ethan turned on his heel, "Ethan, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go and ask her if that drink is still available and the pages that I should've studied tonight I will study tomorrow!"

Ethan began to walk back to the pub at a brisk pace, his heart begininnig to thud in his chest from exertion and anxiety. As he put his hand on the door, he stopped for a few seconds to get control of his breathing. Once under control, he pushed it open and walked in slowly as his courage began to waver. He could see Honey sat at a table with someone sat opposite her. He realised that it was his brother and they seemed to be in deep conversation. As he got closer, his stomach plummeted to the floor. Honey had her head down slightly, looking at the table where Cal was holding her hands. No, no, no, that wasn't right, Cal wouldn't do that. Cal knew how he felt about her, he wouldn't, would he?

He noticed that Honey had seen him as she gasped and pulled her hands out of Cals - his brother's shoulders slumped, as if he had been caught in the act. Ethan felt his blood boil as he took one final stride to the table, "This is an all time low Cal - even for you!" His voice was quiet, almost calm, his anger only noticable by the crack in his voice as he turned away and stormed out of the pub.

 **I'm sorry if I've made Lily to horrible, but she really got on my nerves last night.**

 **Not entirely happy with this chapter. Hope it reads better than I think it does. I'm sure you'll let me know.**

 **The next chapter won't be up until tomorrow because it's a showdown chapter and I have to work on it and make it good enough to publish.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you once again to everyone who has read this and to those who left a review too. I'm sure you know how much it means to me to read your comments.**

 **On to the last chapter now. I've spent a lot of today (on and off), eaten a full pack of Jelly Babies (brain food) in the hope of getting this right, which I hope it is.**

 **So onwards...**

 **Chapter 3**

As soon as the door slammed shut, Cal was on his feet. He glanced at Honey, who looked mortified, "Don't worry - I'll talk to him," he assured her as he dashed off after his brother.

"Ethan! Ethan, wait!" He shouted after his brother's retreating form, "It's not what you think!"

His brother stopped in his tracks, whipping round as Cal caught up, "It never is Caleb, is it?" the younger man almost growled.

Cal had to concede that he had never seen his normally mild mannered younger brother so angry before. He needed to diffuse this - fast. It would quickly escalate if not, "Ethan, please calm down and listen to me," he watched his brother carefully to see if he was making any headway.

"Calm down?!" Ethan ground out, "I was gone for all of five minutes and I come back to see you holding hands with my girlf...how could you?"

Ethan was breathing heavily, his hands clenching and unclenching. Cal knew that he had to tread carefully, "She's not your girlfriend though is she?"

Wrong thing to say, he thought to himself as it looked like his brother might actually burst.

"Ethan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean...this is ridiculous," Cal said, frustration building.

"Oh so _I'm_ being ridiculous now am I?" Ethan began to turn away. He knew that he sounded like a petulant child, but Cal always seemed to manage to get a rise out of him. Before he could take another step however, strong hands gripped his shoulders and spun him around, "I was NOT holding hands with your girlfriend...well technically I was but not in the way you were thinking."

Although Ethan was still steaming, he didn't try to pull away, which Cal took to mean that he was ready to listen.

"Honey was really upset..."

Ethan's eyes immediately went wide, "She was? Oh...I..." Ethan stammered beginning to calm somewhat.

"Of course she was. Can you imagine how hard it was for her to ask you out?"

"She's so brave - I couldn't do it," Ethan commented.

"Erm we've kind of noticed that," Cal chuckled, slowly releasing his brother's shoulders as he saw a small smile grace the younger mans features.

"She couldn't understand why you used studying as an excuse for not going out for a drink with her," Cal stared at his brother intently, "She thought that you had gone off her," he thought he would throw that statement into the mix - it had the desired effect. Ethan looked shocked, then confused, shaking his head, his trademark reaction when trying to work things out in his head.

"Ethan," Cal continued, "Honey knows that you want to be a consultant and that you have to work hard to achieve that. She told me that she's excited for you to follow your dream and she would never jepodise that," he finished.

"But when I was talking to Lily..."

"Let me stop you there bro. I think Miss Lily has an agenda of her own, so don't put to much stock into what she says. Yes, you've got to decide what you want, but don't miss this chance Nibbles...It is possible to have both."

Ethan pondered Cal's words, "So that's why you were holding hands?"

Cal sighed as he ran a hand over his face, "I took hold of her hand to try to make her feel better - a gesture of comfort, that's all. Do you really think that I would make a move on someone that I knew how strongly you felt about them?"

"Honestly? Yes!" Ethan immediately felt guilty for saying it, but if nothing else, he was always honest.

"Oh, right, well I didn't!" snapped Cal, hurt that his brother would think such a thing.

Ethan visibly deflated, "I'm sorry Cal, truely I am. Why am I so useless with all this sort of stuff? I can't even say the right thing to you."

Cal's hurt look was soon replaced by a fond smile, "Unfortunately little brother, that's just the way you're wired," Cal told him.

Ethan let out a long, deep breath, "This is all so new to me. I've liked people before, as you know, but Honey...I don't know... when she walked into the pub earlier, my stomach was in knots...it was like..."

"She was the only woman in the room?" Cal finished.

Ethan's nodded, "Yes," he breathed, "That's exactly right. What's more, even though I heard the words coming out of my mouth, the last thing I wanted to do was study. I wanted to be with Honey - I WANT to be with Honey, it's just...why can't I just tell her that?"

A huge, genuine grin broke Cal's face as he put an arm around the younger man's shoulder, "So, the clueless wonder is not so clueless anymore," he stated happily.

Ethan offered him a shy smile, happy that he was able to talk to his brother and Cal actually listen to him and not ridicule him.

Suddenly, Cal pulled him a little closer, in a one armed hug, which made Ethan feel very comfortable, "Ok little brother, let's go through this one more time - she walked into the pub..."

"And it felt like she was the only woman in the room. She took my breath away Cal," Ethan told him honestly, "I really like her and I want to be with her - I just need to, how would you put it? Grow a pair and tell her," he chuckled.

Cal burst out laughing at Ethan's use of one of the phrases that he was prone to saying, "Actually little brother, you just did!"

He was still smiling as he spun his brother round on the spot to face a rather surprised looking Honey.

At that moment, Ethan wished that the ground would swallow him up, "Oh...Honey...I..." he stammered, turning more shades of pink/red than Cal knew existed. To be fair, Honey had turned almost as pink as her little car, "Did you mean it?" she asked tentatively as Cal removed his arm from around his brother's shoulders and stepped back.

Ethan took a step forward and gently took hold of her hands, turning them over then softly stroking them, "Every word," he breathed as he looked directly into her eyes.

Cal actually felt his own eyes begin to sting, so he decided to exit the scene, "Come in when you're ready - drinks are on me," he told them as they nodded their acknowledgement.

As Cal went to open the door to the pub, he turned round and saw the couple sat on Jeffs bench, holding hands, still smiling shyly at each other, yet deep in conversation, "Finally," Cal said to himself as he made his way to the bar.

Across the car park, however, another pair of eyes surveyed the happy scene in front of them. Their reaction was anything but happy...

 **Ok so I've put the last sentence in because I had an idea of maybe doing another story where we either get psycho Lily, either trying to discredit Ethan or get Honey the sack or maybe a psycho ex of Honey's (maybe from the club) who tries to take Honey away. What do you think? If you like the ideas maybe you could give me a few ideas to work with?**

 **Thank you one and all for reading.**

 **Until next time.**


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